Rider's Destiny
by X-Jinxa-X
Summary: Hicca has always been different from everyone else on Berk, but she never knew just how different she is until she saved the Night Fury. As if being forced into Dragon Training and having to work with Tuffnut wasn't bad enough Hicca is discovering a part of her family her mother tried to protect her from, which may be why Valka was taken ten years ago... FemHiccup Tuffcup
1. Chapter 1

****Hey everyone! I promised this would be up by today and here it is. There isn't much of a change from the original since I really liked the opening to the story. There's some small changes and I fixed it up a bit** but it's mostly the same because I think introducing Berk from Hicca's view is a good way to go so everyone can see how Hicca sees the world.**

**Thank you all so much for the support and love. It has kept me going and working on improving this story. **

**Enjoy~!**

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><p><em>This is Berk…<em>

_Its twelve days north of hopelessness and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery._

_It was built almost seven generations ago though every single building standing now is new. There's not much to do aside from fishing and hunting, but there is a charming view of the sunset. _

_The only "problems" are the "pests". Personally speaking I don't think they're pests, but they don't make life here very easy and they don't help change the peoples' minds. You see while most places have rats or mosquitos, we have…_

The smell of smoke caused fourteen year old Hicca Haddock to sit up as her eyes snapped open. She looked out her window way to see the roofs of other huts were already on fire. A grin spread across her face as a roar broke through the air. "Dragons..." She grinned happily as she jumped out of her bed and ran out of her hut into the chaos as others came out with weapons, ready to attack the dragons above.

_Most people would leave, but not us. We're Vikings, we have stubbornness issues. _

_My names Hicca, or has most people call me Hicca the Hiccup. My mom named me but I got the nickname from the village. It's a runts name and that's what I am, but that doesn't really matter to me. There's perks to being a runt, like being small enough and fast enough to not be spotted in the crowds._

Hicca swerved through the crowds of people who were rushing towards the attack that she was trying to get away from. She went unnoticed for the most part, but despite her small size, people always found a way of noticing her, and not in a good way.

"Get back inside!" One person shouted at her, but Hicca ignored them. "Stay out of the way!" Another person said as she ran past them, ignoring them also. "Stay out of the way Bad Luck Hiccup!" One person cried and Hicca stumbled slightly but caught herself before she could fall.

_The Bad Luck Hiccup, that's another nickname they gave me when I was born because of the mark on my hand and arm. It's a birthmark which wouldn't be anything special, but the whole village is convinced that it's a sign of bad luck is because it's in the shape of a dragon. _

She shot a glare over her shoulder as she kept running, trying to see who had called her by the nickname and not noticing as a dragon flew by, lighting the trail in front of her on fire.

"Hicca!" Someone shouted and the back of her tunic was grabbed, stopping her from running into the trail of fire. She looked at the person and groaned at who it was as he held her in the air like a rag doll. "What is she…? What are doing out here? Get inside! Now!" He ordered and put her down, pushing her away.

_That is Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk. They say when he was a baby he popped the head of a dragon clear off its shoulders._

_Do I believe it?_

Hicca looked over her shoulder to glare at Stoick but he didn't notice as he threw a wagon at a dragon flying in the air. She frowned and her face filled with sadness as she watched the dragon fall. She looked away and to the forge.

_Yes I do, and I hate that killing a dragon is something that is celebrated here._

As she ran into the forge the blacksmith looked up from the sword that he was hammering and smiled at her as she threw off her vest. "Well nice of you to join the party! I thought you've been carried off!" He chuckled and Hicca pulled on her apron.

"Oh yeah…" She huffed out as she smiled a rare smile while she picked up a very heavy hammer and placed it on the shelf of weapons. "The dragons will totally want to eat me over the others." she said sarcastically.

"They need toothpicks don't they?" He joked and Hicca rolled her eyes at him before opening the forge's window way.

_The meathead with the attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber, my teacher. I've been his apprentice since I was little, well, littler. I love working in the forge, but sadly I'll never be the next blacksmith. I'm only working here so I can stay out of trouble and keep my "bad luck" from spreading around the village. Blacksmithing is one of the only things I like here and Gobber is one of the few people I actually like also. _

Hicca pushed open the windows so that anyone could come to the forge and get a weapon if they needed it. She didn't like to build the weapons that would be used to kill the dragons but she had to. Crafting was all that she was good at.

A dragon flew by and Hicca looked at it amazed by it as it lit the roof of a hut on fire. "Come on!" A familiar voice to Hicca cried and she looked over to see a group of teenagers racing with buckets.

"Hurry up!" The ebony haired one ordered clearly annoyed as he threw his bucket of water onto the burning house, which didn't help much because he didn't have a lot of water.

_That's Snotlout. He's my jerky cousin who bullied me for most of my life because of my birthmark and because I'm not a "true" Viking like him. He's pretty much focused his attention on other things so he doesn't bully me as much, but I try to avoid him still. Only problem is Berk is a small village on small island and you can't escape family here._

"Snotlout! That's not helping!" The blonde with the red headband around her head criticized Snotlout for not doing things "right".

_Astrid is the toughest and most well liked girl on Berk. Anything a boy can do, she can do better and she knows it. We used to get along when we were kids, to a degree, but now we hardly ever talk and that's because we have such differing views now. She wants to kill dragons to prove herself as the best and I don't want to kill any dragons._

"G-Guys! N-Nader!" The largest boy with the squeaky voice cried before running away as the dragon from above.

_Fishlegs is one of the few people who I handle for more than five minutes. He's really interested in dragons, but not in the same way I am. He's just interested in learning more about them and that's it. He's not like me, he doesn't dream of saving or riding dragons. He wants to kill them, just like everyone else on this island. _

_And then there's the twins…_

"Quit being such a baby Fishlegs!" The female twin with braids yelled at Fishlegs as he ran away screaming like a girl.

_There's Ruffnut who's more on the wild side than most though she's not as bad as her brother at times. When we were kids she'd follow Snotlout and her brother around when they would pick on me, but she stopped doing it a while go so I can't really hate her for that. That doesn't change the fact that she's a Viking which is why we will never be friends or anything close to it. _

"Hey Butthead!" Hicca looked up from her work as the male twin threw his bucket of water at the dragon, which caused the dragon to roar before it started chasing Tuffnut who quickly started running.

_And then there's Tuffnut. He's just like his sister, a bit crazier though and a bit more annoying than his sister. He used to pick on me also, but he stopped when we got older. The odd thing is he stopped first and then Ruffnut followed his lead. Now he's just annoying like his sister and Snotlout. He's just like everyone else on Berk and is trying to get glory through the deaths of the dragons. _

_He won't change, none of them will, and this island will never change from it's ways. And I'll never change my ways or my feelings of the dragons. _

Hicca didn't look away as she watched Tuffnut run, trying to get away from the dragon. He ran to the fields and Hicca pushed herself out the window to see what was going on. There were nets being thrown onto dragons in the sky, causing them to fall from the sky and crash into the ground. The sight caused Hicca's face to fill with sorrow and she forced herself to look away as people ran to the dragons planning to take them as their trophies.

"Hicca! Get those swords sharpened!" Gobber ordered and Hicca nodded, getting to work on sharpening some of the swords. As she sharpened the swords she tried to ignore the roars from outside that the dragons let out as they were forced to the ground.

_I can't explain my love for dragons, just like my dream of riding one it feels like it's a part of me. I don't understand it but I accept it unlike the rest of the world around me. I refuse to accept that it is alright to kill such beautiful and amazing creatures. _

_A Nadder Head is beautiful; it has so many colors in its scales and spikes. It's like a rainbow right after a horrible storm. They also have poisonous spikes, making them both beautiful and deadly. _

_Gronckles aren't as pretty as Nadders though they are cute in their own way and not as fast as other dragons, but what they don't have in looks they make up for in toughness. _

_Zipplebacks are the most exotic of all dragons. Two heads working together like a well-functioning family to get the job better. I wish my family could be like that. _

_There's also the Monstrous Nightmare, an amazing dragon with the ability to light its body on fire. It's so beautiful, but everyone wants to kill one since it considered one of the "Big boys" meaning you kill it; you'll get a lot of glory from it._

_But there is one dragon that is so amazing and glorious, which means everyone wants to kill it._

Hicca felt a shiver run down her back, causing her to stop sharpening her sword. A grin spread across her face as she realized what was coming. "Yes…" She whispered to herself excitedly as she heard its cry. She always knew when it was coming before anyone else and everyone knew when it was coming when they heard its cry.

_We call it…_

"Night Fury!" Someone from outside cried and everyone ducked under their shields as a dragon too far from the island and too in the sky to tell what it was, but the purple flames that took out one of Berk's towers gave away what it was. Hicca raced to the window way, grinning as she tried to get a good look at the dragon. Sometimes she saw its shape, but she only saw glances of it since it arrived.

_It never steals food, never shows itself, never purposely hurts someone, and…_

Hicca looked to another tower just before the Night Fury's cry filled the air again. Other ducked but Hicca watched from the window way as the dragon fired at another tower, lighting it on fire and causing it to crumble.

…_Never misses._

_Almost everyone here has the goal to be the one to take down the Night Fury, but my goal is to do just the opposite. I want to keep it safe, just like all the other dragons that are here. I'll do anything to keep the dragons safe. Don't ask how many times I "forgot" to set up a dragon trap around the island or a net just happens to have a hole in it that dragons can use to get free. _

"Hicca!" Gobber cried and Hicca looked back to him. He was switching his hand hammer for forging and replacing it with his axe hand. "Keep working, they need me out there." He said as he hobbled over to the doorway of the forge due to his peg leg. He looked back to her and she stood calm and relaxed with a smile on her face.

He knew what she was doing. She was planning to leave the forge despite his orders. "Stay. Put. There." He ordered awkwardly. When it came to enforcing rules on Hicca Gobber had a hard time being strict with her. He looked at her and the smile that remained on her face which made it clear that nothing he said wouldn't stop her from going through with her plan. "Just don't do anything crazy…" He said before letting out a war cry as he ran into the village to help the others.

Hicca waited a few moments before throwing off her apron and running into the back room of the forge which Gobber gave her to make her crazy inventions. She put her vest back on and pulled the blanket off of her latest invention. "Time to put you to good use." She said as she smiled at the Bola Launcher before wheeling in out of the forge. She ran through the crowds ignoring their yells.

"Get down!" Someone shouted as someone else ran into Hicca, knocking her and her invention to the ground. She began to get up but quickly ducked as a Nadder lit one of the hut around them on fire, just barely missing Hicca and the person who knocked her over.

"What the Hel are you doing out?" Hicca looked over at the person and groaned when she saw that it was Tuffnut who ran into her.

"Nothing." She said stubbornly as she glared at him as something started to twist in the inside of her body.

Tuffnut glared back at her, holding back his need to blink. It almost like they were having an angry staring contest until Snotlout called out, "Tuff! We need your help!" as another hut was lit on fire. He kept his glare on Hicca as he picked up his bucket, which had been knocked out of his hands when they hit each other, before running off to help the others.

Hicca sighed thankful that he was gone. She picked up her bola launcher the tightness in her guts faded away and started running as she wheeled her bola launcher through the village till she reached the cliff that was further away from the fighting. She opened her bola launcher and took hold of the handles as she pointed it into the sky.

_I've got a plan to keep the Night Fury safe. It isn't the best though it's the only one that might work. I need to capture it and hopefully I can get a ship to take it somewhere else, somewhere with other dragons where it will be safe._

_I don't want to do this, but it's the only way I can get the Night Fury and keep it from anyone else from killing it. _

The familiar shiver ran up her back and Hicca knew it was coming. "Come on, where are you?" She whispered to herself as she looked up to the sky, trying to find the Night Fury. The cry filled the air and she quickly aimed the launcher at one of the only two tower that were left standing just before the Night Fury's indefinable purple fire ball hit the tower. Flames engulfed the tower quickly and Hicca used the light of them to find the Night Fury.

She found it and as soon as she did she fired the bola. The blowback threw her back onto the ground and from there she watched as the shape fell from the sky and into the forest, far from the village.

"I…I did it…" She said as the shock hit her. A grin spread across her face and she cheered loudly as she bounced up off the ground. "Yes! I did it!" She cheered happily. Nothing could bring her down from the high she was on. She got the Night Fury away from the village, for now it was safe.

"Thank the Gods nobody saw that!" She said as she started to come down from her high. She didn't even realize that someone was behind her until she heard a growl from behind. She turned slowly to look at the Nightmare as her smile dropped. "Except you…" She said to the Nightmare, which was also on fire.

_I love dragons and I will do anything to help them, but to them I look almost like everyone else on Berk who tries to kill them. They see me as a Viking. _

Hicca quickly took off running as she screamed while the Nightmare chased after her. She ran past the field not noticing Stoick was there trying to wrangle the Nadders that had almost taken off with Berk's sheep.

She ran through the village without thinking, all she could think about was getting away. She hid behind one of the poles that stood tall in the middle of the village just as the Nightmare fired at it. She was glad for her tiny size or the fire would have hit her. She breathed deeply, trying to get her breath under control as she started to look behind the post, not noticing the Nightmare coming from the other side.

It began to roar but was interrupted as Stoick came out of nowhere and punched it to get it away from Hicca. The Nightmare tried to light its body on fire but when it tried to it spit up lava instead, a sign that it was all out of fire power for the moment.

"You're all out." Stoick told the dragon before he started to attack the dragon. Hicca covered her mouth and watched in horror as her father punched and kicked the Monstrous Nightmare until the injured dragon flew away. Hicca let out a sigh of relief that the dragon had been able to get away but at the sound of the wooden post began to break. She turned to face it just as it fell and she was face to face with the chief of Berk.

…_and there's one more thing you need to know…_

"Sorry, dad." Hicca said cringing as the top part of the large torch rolled down the hill, destroying some huts that had been untouched by the dragons and freeing the Nadders from the ropes.

_See, bad things just happen around me._

Stoick sighed deeply, upset and stressed as the Nadders flew away while the sun started to rise. Hicca pressed her lips together to hold back her smile at the dragons flying free and away from Berk. After the dragon flew further away she looked back to her father. He huffed as he pushed his helmet up to rub against his forehead and looked to Gobber.

"Take her home. I'll take care of this mess." He said and walked past Hicca. She looked to the corners of her eyes to keep from looking at her father as he walked past her. He could have said more, lecture her even, but it was like he didn't know how to talk to her.

_Yep, Stoick the Vast, Chief of Berk, has a dragon loving hiccup for a daughter. Being a hiccup is bad, plus loving dragons just makes things worse, and the fact that I'm a girl just adds to the problems. Chiefs aren't supposed to have single daughters. They're supposed to have at least one son who will take their place as Chief, but since mom…_

Hicca shook her head, don't wanting to finish the thought as Gobber lead her away from the crowd gathered in the village.

"Wow…" Snotlout sighed happily as she walked past him "I have never seen anyone fail that badly." he laughed while Astrid smirked and Fishlegs laughed lightly, not enjoying the pleasure of taunting Hicca like the other two. The twins snickered too for the same reason as Fishlegs but as Hicca walked away with her back to them the twins looked to each other from the corner of their eyes, sharing a mirror look of disappointment in their eyes as their smirks fell too slowly for anyone to notice.

"Come on Hicca." Gobber said and pushed her forward lightly to get her to pick up the pace. She kept walking, ignoring her cousin as she looked over her shoulder at her father who was already getting to work on fixing the damage done by both the dragons and her.

_Dad and I have differing ideas about dragons, as many know, but things between us haven't been good because of that. Things have been like this since mom was taken from us. _

_I was four when it happened and it was during a dragon attack. Dad was and is still convinced that the dragons took mom and that she is never coming back, but I know the dragons didn't take her. Someone took her, and I know that a person did it because I saw it._

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading this and putting up with me. I am so much better now and I will have the next chapter up soon but I am still busy with school. I'm also going to be working on oneshots on the side and I'm taking requests for Tuffcup stories with both Hiccup and fem!Hiccup.<strong>

**Please leave a review and if you have a request for me please send it to me as a Private Message.**

**Thank you! I love you! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone. I didn't mean for things to take this long but some things came up. I got caught up in some family drama with my cousin who got kicked out of his house by his mom and my aunt. **

**My grandfather was admitted to the hospital on Halloween and my aunt started to tell everyone that he was dead, which caused me to have anxiety attacks all night. His kidneys have failed and he died. Everything hurts right now and I'm trying to distract myself because I've been peparing for this all week but it hurts so much when it really happens.  
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**I'm sorry for telling you guys about this and ruining your day, but I needed to get this out because it helps me.**

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><p>The sun was halfway over the ocean when Hicca and Gobber reached the hut she shared with Stoick. The whole walk to the hut Hicca had been ranting about her father like she almost always did.<p>

"If we didn't live together, I wouldn't know that we're even related." She said as they got closer to the front door of the hut "He looks at me as if he's been cheated, like someone's taken all of the meat off his sandwich." she said as she stepped onto the front porch. "Excuse me barmaid, I think you brought me the wrong offspring. I wanted a boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! _This_? This is a runt of a fishbone, bad enough that she's a girl but you've got to give me a runt too!" She did her bed to imitate her father's voice, though her voice shifted back to her own as she finished yelling her sentence.

Gobber chuckled lightly at Hicca's rant and how she imitated her father. "You're going about this all wrong Hicca. It's not how you look, its how you act that he can't stand." He said, trying to make Hicca understand that her father was concerned with Hicca's actions and love of dragons, though his words only made her face fill with confusion.

"Thank you for summing that up." She said sarcastically as her face changed from confusion to a sarcastic smile.

"You know what I mean Hicca." Gobber said trying to fix the situation "He wants you to fit in." he said, hoping that she would understand what Stoick wanted.  
>"I don't want to fit in." Hicca said as she opened the front door of the hut "I just want to be me." she said before walking into the hut and closing the door before Gobber could say anymore. He sighed deeply before walking away from the hut.<p>

Inside the hut Hicca raced up to her room. She grabbed the satchel that hung her chair by side her desk and quickly began packing what she needed like her journal and charcoal sticks for writing and drawing. She was about to leave the room when she noticed the dagger on her desk, the one her mother had given to her.

"_A dagger can be used two ways Hicca. It can be a weapon for fighting and killing dragons, or it can be a tool used to help them. Which would you like it to be?"_

Her mother never talked like that when her father was around. The conversations of dragons and helping them were always whispers and always when they were alone.

Her mother always made her promise to never tell anyone about their conversations and Hicca kept her promise even after her mother had been taken from them. She never told anyone about how her mother would talk about saving and protecting dragons rather than killing them.

Those conversations were the ones she held onto because they were one of the few things she had left of her mother, and she never wanted anyone to taint them with their ideas of killing dragons. She hadn't ever told her father about the conversations because she knew he would just laugh and tell her that they had to kill dragons like he always would when she brought up the idea of saving dragons rather than killing them.

Once she was packed with everything she needed Hicca headed out from the back door of the hut so nobody could see her running off into the forest.

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><p>The Great Hall emptied as Stoick sighed deeply. This was their last chance to end this before winter came, which was when things on Berk always got worse. Food would run out quickly if the dragons got to it and then they'd start going after the people. Stoick shook his head as he tried to push away the thoughts that were wearing heavily on his mind. This had to be the final trip and the final battle. They had to find the nest or the village would fall apart.<p>

"Well, I'll start packing my undies then." Gobber said as he set his mug of mead down on the table. He was about to get up and follow the group that was emptying, but his best friend stopped him before he left.

"Sorry Gobber, I need you to stay here and train the new recruits." Stoick said as he walked over to his friend and sat down in the seat beside the blacksmith.

"Oh yeah, and while I'm doing that, Hicca can work in the forge." Gobber said sarcastically. "Maybe she can finally fix those traps that haven't been working properly and fix all those nets that somehow got holes in them." He said as he looked to Stoick who sighed again.

The two men knew much about why so many of the traps and nets failed to do their jobs correctly unlike the others on Berk. Stoick and Gobber knew about Hicca's love for dragons and that she had messed with many of the traps Gobber had created to capture dragons so that the dragons could get free.

"What am I going to do about her Gobber?" Stoick asked the blacksmith like he always did when he didn't know what to do about Hicca. He knew he wasn't close to Hicca thanks to her love of the dragons. They had once been close, but after his wife Valka had been taken by the dragons their relationship had become strained.

"Put her in training." He said and Stoick looked at him shocked by his friend's words. He couldn't be serious. Putting Hicca in training was the worst idea the blacksmith had ever had.

"I'm serious Gobber." He argued and Gobber looked to his friend.

"So am I." The blacksmith argued back at the chief. Few would argue with Stoick, but the two had been friends for so long that Gobber was partially family and he could get away with arguing against Stoick.

"You know she won't fight them, she's still going on about her crazy dragon activism thing." Stoick said as he pushed himself up off his seat. "She doesn't understand just how back things can get. She refuses to listen, she spends all her time alone in the forest… I try to take her fishing and she goes hunting for trolls!" He shouted as he felt some of the stress that had been wearing on him because of Hicca.

"Trolls exist! They steal your socks!" Gobber argued "But only the left one…why is that?" he added, getting off the topic.

"Gobber, you know what I mean though." Stoick huffed as he tried to get them back on the topic of Hicca. "Hicca isn't a Viking. She doesn't want to be one. It's like…like there's something in her blood that wants to reject everything around her." He said as he sat back down. Hicca's love of the dragons was nothing new. It had been around for years since they lost her mother to the dragons, though Hicca always claimed that someone had taken Valka.

Stoick thought it was a way of dealing with the pain for losing her mother, but this was going on for too long. He wanted Hicca to belong on Berk and have friends like her cousin Snotlout, and he wanted to just talk to her about normal things like his brother Spitelout could with his son.

Talking was a long standing issue between Stoick and Hicca. Whenever Stoick tried it lead to some kind of fight and Hicca would usually run out of hut to the forest while Stoick went to the Great Hall for a mug of mead.

He didn't like that it always happened. He wanted to have talks with his daughter and connect with her like they used to before her mother was taken, especially now. He was about to leave for yet another hunt for the nest and it was possible he would die which was always possible whenever he left for a hunt. He didn't want to leave things like this.

Stoick sighed as he remembered what it was like between Hicca and him when she was little. It was so easy to connect with her, especially whenever they would read together. That was how things used to be and he wanted to have something similar to that.

"Hicca is only going to learn how to be a Viking if she experiences it herself." Gobber told his friend. "She needs to know you won't always be there and that she's got to learn to fight on her own." Gobber told Stoick and shifted in his seat so that he was looking at his friend. "I know you're worried about her and you want to keep her safe, but you can't protect her forever. She's going to get out and she is likely out there now! One day you won't be able to protect her from the dragons Stoick, and she will get hurt if she doesn't learn to fight them." He told Stoick.

Stoick remained silent as he looked away from his friend. Gobber stood up and left his friend alone in the Great Hall to think over what he was going to do about Hicca.

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><p>Down at the beach Snotlout, Astrid, and the twins were gathered at the beach. Tuffnut was using his spear to draw in the sand while his sister spoke to Astrid, who was sharpening her axe like she almost always was. The girl had a strange addiction to having all of her weapons perfectly sharpened.<p>

"Man! I am so pumped!" Snotlout said excitedly as he punched his fists in the air in front of him "I can't wait for training!" he shouted excitedly. The twins grinned while Astrid smirked slightly.

"Yeah, this is gonna be awesome!" Tuffnut agreed, just as excited about the upcoming training the teenagers were going to be going into soon. "I wanna get some serious burns…" He hissed as excited shivers ran down his back. The idea of running scared and fighting the dragons was both terrifying and exciting at the same time.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back." Ruffnut added as she looked over her shoulder, wondering where that would look best.

"It's only fun if you get a scar out of it though." Astrid said with a smirk as she let her mind wonder to where would be the best place to get a scar on her body. "One right down the eye would be amazing." She said with a grin. She was as excited for the training that was coming up soon because she would finally be able to prove herself to everyone.

"Do you think that there's going to be teams this year?" Ruffnut asked. They had seen all of the older recruits go through training, sometimes there were teams and sometimes there weren't any. It all depended on who was teaching and how my recruits there were.

"Gods I hope not." Tuffnut said. "The last thing I want is to get stuck with you. Your butt makes you the best target." He said as he looked over at his sister. Ruffnut glared at her brother before punching him in the face.

"There probably won't be any since its only us and Fishlegs this year." Astrid pointed out, reminding them that there was only going to be them and Fishlegs in training this year. All the other kids on Berk were too young to be training yet and the only other teen allegeable for training.

"Wait, the Hiccup, won't be there?" Astrid asked and Snotlout scoffed at the idea while Tuffnut and Ruffnut shifted uncomfortably at the use of Hicca's nickname.

Everyone on Berk knew about her nickname and most used it when Stoick wasn't around and sometimes they would use it around Hicca. It was practically a norm but something about Hicca's nickname made him feel…odd. He didn't like the odd feeling which was why he stopped calling her it, and when he stopped so did Ruff because that was how they worked sometimes. When one twin did something so did the other.

"You really think Hicca is gonna be in dragon training?" Snotlout asked using Hicca's name over the nickname many called her when Gobber or Stoick was around. "My uncle is crazy protective of her. The last thing he'll do is let her get in the arena with the dragons." He said knowing how protective his uncle was of his cousin which was so annoying because it made teasing her a bit harder.

"Good." Astrid said as she went back to sharpening her axe. "I'd hate to be whoever would get stuck with her." she muttered and the others nodded in agreement. While Tuffnut didn't like calling her Bad Luck, neither twin wanted to be stuck around her. Hicca attracted bad luck to herself and anyone around her, the only one who hardly experienced any was Gobber who spent the most time with Hicca out of everyone on Berk.

"I really hope that they find the nest." Ruffnut said as Tuffnut looked over to his sister. Snotlout didn't notice what the female twin was saying because he was trying to flirt with Astrid pointlessly and she was putting all her attention into sharpening her axe to perfection as she ignored Snotlout. Tuffnut was the only one who noticed how his sister was acting and he knew from the slight shaking in her shoulders he knew she was thinking about something else.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. "He'll be fine Ruff." He hoped his words would calm her but they couldn't calm the worries that were bubbling in him about tomorrow.

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><p>Trying to find a giant dragon was easier said then done. Berk's forest was large and wild. Hicca knew it well because she spent most of her time in the forest, but even in the fourteen years that she had lived on Berk and had explored the forest she had still been unable to learn all of it.<p>

"How does someone even lose a whole dragon?" Hicca growled to herself as she scribbled all over the map in her journal. She huffed and put it away in her satchel. "Some people lose their boots, their mugs, how do I lose a whole dragon?" she asked shouting before she whacked a tree branch only to have it fling back and hit her in the face.

Hicca looked up to glare at the tree but her glare faded from her face as it filled with confusion. The tree was torn up and bending forward like something had crashed into it. She looked to her left to find unearthed dirt creating a fresh path leading down towards somewhere in the forest. Any of the usual forest animals like the boars and wolves could have caused the dirt to be unearthed, but something told Hicca it wasn't.

There was something in her that was pulling her to move down the path, sliding slightly from the slant of the land. She reached a boulder towards the end of the path and looked over it to see something large and black which caused her to gasp and quickly duck down behind the boulder.

She stayed there for a moment and took a deep breath before she moved up again. She looked over the boulder and her eyes went wide with shock when she saw what looked to be the Night Fury that nobody had ever seen with her bola wrapped around its body. She gulped nervously as she pulled out her dagger to cut the ropes and stepped out from behind the boulder.

Night Fury looked at her growled causing Hicca to step back out fear. She gulped again and she swallowed her fear. "I'm here to help." She said softly, trying to calm the dragon as she looked over it. Nobody had ever seen a Night Fury so close, and she was seeing it now. A smile spread across Hicca's face as excitement ran through her body, but as her eyes trailed down to his tail her smile fell. Much of his body was uninjured, he had some scratches, but his tail was not. One of his tail fins had been torn off from his tail.

The excitement died as guilt and horror spread throughout Hicca's body as she realized what had happened to the Night Fury. His tail fin was gone and she knew what that meant, he would never fly again. And she knew how it happened.

"I did this…" She whispered as she looked to her hands, dropping her dagger as she stared at her hands.

The Night Fury had been flying fine until she shot it down with her bola launcher. His tail fin was gone because she had shot him down. Hicca dropped to her knees as tears stung in her eyes. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" She whispered to the Night Fury as the tears rolled down her face. She looked at the dragon and saw it looking back at her.

The way he looked at her a feeling to spread through her. It was like she was looking back at herself. She wasn't sure why, but that was how she felt as she looked back at him. He looked away and closed his eyes, prepared to die.

Hicca pressed her lips together and wiped her tears away before she picked up her dagger and started cutting the ropes. She pressed her birth-marked hand on the Night Fury's cold scale body. She didn't see that the Night Fury's eyes shot open, but something burned in her hand as she cut the last rope. She pulled away as soon as the rope and looked at her hand before Night Fury threw her up against the boulder she had been hiding behind.

The Night Fury glared at her though his eyes didn't cause fear to pump though her body. She stared back at him, eyes wide as she stared into his eyes. His eyes only shifted to look over at her right hand, the one with the birthmark on it. His eyes widened as his eyes shifted back to her, he looked scared but as he stared back at her his eyes seemed to soften as he stared at her. He stared at her for a long time before he let her go.

He turned away from her, ran away before he flew away into the forest. Hicca sat back up, she watched as the Night Fury hit some trees while flying before going in deeper to the forest. She stood up with shaking legs, pressing her palms on the boulder to help her from falling. She turned around to head back to Berk, but as she started to walk her vision became fuzzy and a ringing in her ear began. She didn't even have another moment to think before she blacked out as she hit the ground.

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><p>Convincing Ruffnut to get away from Snotlout and Astrid was easy and go to the cave where they would play hide-and-kill as kids to just talk was easy. Getting Ruff to talk was for once the harder part.<p>

"I can't wait to start training." Tuffnut said just to bring a subject up to get his sister to talk. "What about you?" He asked as he looked to his twin.

"Yeah…" Ruffnut said though her voice was lacking the excitement that Tuffnut wasn't used to from his sister. He was used to his sister being more exciting and arguing with him. He didn't like it when she was acting like this.

"Quit worrying or you'll get wrinkles, and then you'll look even worse then you usually do." He told her, trying to push her buttons. He knew how much his sister cared about her appearance and how it ticked her off when he made fun of how she looked.

Ruffnut's frown quickly disappeared and she glared at her brother. Neither one of them noticed the ripped up tree in front of them. "Shut up!" She shouted and punched him so hard that he fell to the side, rolling down until he caught himself.

He stood up and looked around realizing that something about the area seemed off. "What in Thor's name happened here?" He asked noticing the tree and the dirt as Ruffnut skidded down the path made of fresh dirt.

Both the twins looked around the room, but as she did she noticed something over the boulder. "Hicca?" She questioned as she walked past her brother and over to the boulder. Tuffnut followed his sister and they were both shocked to see Hicca lying on her stomach down on the ground with her head to the side.

"Is she dead or something?" Tuffnut asked as his sister crouched down and shook Hicca's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"Hicca. Hey Hicca, are you okay?" She said as she shook the other girl. Her shakes got harsher and finally Hicca started to wake up.  
>"Oh Gods…" The brunette wondered as she opened her eyes slowly. She groaned as she started to get up as did Ruffnut. She stood up and looked around. She had noticed the twins, but as she cared less about them. "What happened to the…" She started but stopped when she remembered that the twins were around.<br>"To the what?" Tuffnut asked as he looked at the brunette.

"Nothing." She awnsered quickly and the twins glanced to each other from the corners of their eyes. They both felt the suspicion growing at Hicca's quick answer. "What are you guys doing here?" She asked, being a bit too defensive. She didn't even think about how she was acting or how it was adding to the twin's suspension.

"Going for a walk." They both answered in unison. They weren't going to tell her about where they were going. Nobody knew about their dark soggy place, except Snotlout because he had played with them when they were kids.

"What are you doing here?" Tuffnut asked and Hicca glared at him. It was clear to both twins that Hicca hiding something, and that she was annoyed that Tuffnut was asking her about it.  
>"Nothing." She answered quickly again. "I'm going home." She said and moved past the twins.<p>

They both watched her walk up the dirt path and turn the way that lead back to the village. Once she was gone the twins looked back so that they were facing each other.

"That was weird…" Ruffnut said as they headed back up the path and turned the way to go to the cave.

"It's Hicca. Everything is weird about her." Tuffnut said as they walked. Everyone knew Hicca was odd and different from the rest of them, so her acting weird didn't surprise him as much. He was a little curious though. Hicca was hiding something and there was a part of him that wanted to know what it was.

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><p><strong>I hope you guys enjoyed this and the parts about the twins. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. <strong>

**I don't know when I'll have the next chapter up. It might be a few days or a few weeks depending on how things go for the next few days. Thank you all for the support for this story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everyone, sorry for the super long wait. It's been a tough few weeks and I just couldn't work on this for a while. I hate that I let this all get to me but it's a natural and I keep having to tell myself that. **

**Sorry if this isn't my best work but I did my best. I focused more on the twins and their lives outside of training. Writing Ruff helped me a bit after I took a short break to spend time with my family and play some Dragon Age to take my mind off of things. I'm doing better, but it's still hard and I know it's going to take more time. **

* * *

><p>When they finally reached their cave Tuffnut sat down against the wall, relaxing as he stretched out his legs and moved his arms behind his head. As he sat into a relaxing position Ruffnut sat down against the wall across from her brother. Until her brother she crossed her legs and hunched her back to look at the ground in front of him. She used her finger to draw in the dirt, playing tick-tak-toe while she held her thoughts in her head, which caused a dazed look to take over her face.<p>

Tuffnut noticed his sister's face and what she was doing. He sighed deeply and shifted so his legs were crossed and his back was hunched so he looked just like his sister only he wasn't looking down at the ground. "Ruff, you've got to stop thinking about it." He told his sister.

"I can't." Ruffnut told him. She didn't look up at her brother as she spoke. She kept playing and drawing in the dirt. "I don't want him to go." She said as she drew three figures in the dirt. There were two who looked alike only one of them was clearly a girl. They were both standing to the sides of the taller figure who was holding one of their hands.

Tuffnut glanced down at her drawing, but he couldn't tell what it was because to him it was upside down.

"He has to go with the others." He told his sister. They were Vikings. They fought together in times of need and this was one of those times. They had to do this. "There's no changing it Ruff. He has to go." He told her.

"No he doesn't!" Ruffnut shouted as she jumped up from her seat. "He doesn't have to go and he shouldn't!" She shouted at her brother as the tears she had been holding back started to stream down her cheeks.

"You need to stop worrying about this!" Tuffnut shouted as he got up off the ground. "He's going to be fine!" He shouted, not thinking about how his voice was raising to match his sisters. It was something he never noticed and neither did she. Whenever they fought the other tried to match whatever they were doing. Their voices got louder, their punches got harder, and their tempers kept rising. They feed of each other when they were fighting and their stubbornness kept them going.

"You don't know that!" Ruffnut shouted back at him, her voice getting to that squeaky pitch that echoed through the cave. "What if he doesn't come back? He's the only one left! Without him its just you and me!" She shouted and her words made hit Tuffnut harder than he wanted them to. He had been trying not to think about it, but Ruffnut was right.

When he fell silent Ruffnut started to breakdown. She cupped her hands over her mouth and began sobbing into them as her shoulders shook. Tuffnut pressed his lips as he watched his sister cry. He had made this worse and he hated it when he made his sister cry like this. He took a deep breath to calm himself before he placed his hands on Ruffnut's shoulders.

"Ruff, calm down. Dad is going to be fine." He told her as he held her shoulders tight enough to not leave bruises but tight enough to make her feel secure. Ruffnut moved her hands from her face and looked at her brother.

"Mom died in battle. He always says that's the only way he wants to go…" She choked on her words. Tuffnut pressed his lips together and pulled his sister down so they were sitting against the wall.

"We're going to be fine." Tuffnut said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and rubbed it to calm her down. "We're going to be fine…" He repeated as he tried to assure both her and himself about what was happening in their family now. It was going to be just them for the next few weeks, but that was only if he did come back. If things didn't go well when he was on the hunt then it was just going to Tuffnut and Ruffnut from now on.

"We're going to be fine…" He kept telling her as he tried to push the thoughts away. He had to keep holding onto the hope that their father was going to be alright.

There was a chance he wouldn't come back, there was a chance that it would just be the two of them for the rest of their lives, but that was a risk that they had to take. They were Vikings, they protected each other and they died for each other.

* * *

><p>What had happened to the Night Fury?<p>

As she walked through the forest and back to the village the words kept repeating over and over in her head as she thought about the Night Fury. Was he gone? Was he still on the island? Would he keep attacking the village? If he was gone Hicca hoped to the Gods that he was somewhere safe and would never return to Berk.

The sun was setting over the ocean as she walked to her hut and inside. The first thing she noticed was her father sitting in front of the fire pit. He didn't look up at her and she didn't try to get his attention. She quickly headed to the stairs, planning to go up to her room and stay there for the rest of the night.

"Hicca."

Her father calling her name caused her to freeze midway up the stairs. She closed her eyes tightly before letting out a sigh. "Yeah dad?" She asked as she looked over at him, wondering what he wanted to talk about this time. They rarely talked now unless he wanted her to do something now.

"We need to talk." Stoick told her as he walked over to her while she stayed on the stairs. He looked like he had been thinking for a long time, and that he wasn't very happy about whatever decision he had made. "You're going into dragon training." He told her and Hicca's eyes widened slightly at his words.

"Wait-what?" She asked as she climbed down from the stairs. "Dad! Why?" She asked him as she looked at him. He always insisted on keeping her out of training and she was fine with that, she didn't want to kill dragons. She wanted to save them and help them so they could stay safe.

"You're going in so you can learn how to kill dragons." Stoick told her as he picked up an axe that was resting on the side against the wall of their hut.

"Dad, I _can't_ kill dragons!" She told him. "I just can't!" She insisted as she looked at him. There was no real reason to why she didn't want to hurt them, she just didn't want to. They were amazing in her opinion and she never wanted to harm them like everyone else on Berk.

"Hicca. It's time for this to end." Stoick said sternly, becoming annoyed with Hicca's words. He handed her the axe and she slumped slightly at the weight of the axe. "You will be a Viking. That means you walk like us, talk like us, and act like us." He told her and she stared back at him in disbelieve.

"Dad! I don't want to kill dragons!" She shouted, filling the hut with her voice.

"Hicca! Enough!" Stoick shouted as Hicca's words finally pushed him over the edge of his patiences with her. She stepped back, never liking when her father raised his voice. Stoick gulped, noticing Hicca's fear and realizing that he had failed to keep calm.

"You are a Viking, it's time you began acting like one." He told her as he put his helmet back on "I need to get the ships ready, we're leaving for our next hunt tomorrow." he told her as he slung his bag over his shoulder. He was going to leave the hut, like he always did when he got too angry at her. "Gobber knows you will be in training and he will make sure you go there." He told her before he walked out of the hut, leaving Hicca alone.

Tears stung in Hicca's eyes as she threw the axe her father had handed her to the floor. She ran up to her room and climbed into her bed, hiding under her covers as the tears began rolling down her cheeks for the second time that day. "I wish I wasn't a Viking." She whispered to herself as she stayed under her blanket for the rest of the evening.

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><p>When the sun had started to set over the ocean both Ruffnut and Tuffnut knew that they needed to go back home soon. They didn't talk about what was going to happen when they were got home. They were all just going to pretend that everything was fine between the three of them.<p>

They reached the village and were on their way to their hut when they saw Stoick stepped close to them. "Chief." They both greeted. The twins were rarely polite to many but they had been raised well enough to know to always be polite to their chief. Stoick looked to the twins and gave them both a nod before looking away to head to the Great Hall as the twins continued on their way to their hut.

They entered the hut and Tuffnut quickly called out as they did. "Dad! We're back!" He called as they walked into the hut.

"Hey kids!" Their father appeared out from the smaller room upstairs that used to be their own. The twins smiled up at their father and the head of their household, Ser. Tuffnut Thorston.

He walked down stairs and pulled the twins into a strong hug. He looked much like the twins did, thin but still strong. His hair was short and a deeper shade of blond than the twins' hair, but he had the same shade of grayish blue eyes like them.

Tuffnut groaned while Ruffnut hugged her father back. The head of the Thorston household broke the hug and looked to his two children. "How are you guys doing? Excited for training tomorrow?"

"Hel yeah!" Tuffnut cheered dramatically. "I'm hoping for some serious burns!" He said while Ruffnut just nodded in agreement.

Their father just laughed and nudged his son's shoulder lightly. "That's sure to get the girls to notice." He said with a laugh. Tuffnut grinned happily at his father while Ruffnut rolled her eyes at her brother and father. "I'm going to get started on dinner. Ruff, can you please go get some carrots from the garden?" He asked his daughter, who nodded in agreement before walking out the backdoor to the garden.

Tuffnut started to walk up the stairs as his sister left the house, but his father suddenly spoke up again.

"Junior." Tuffnut froze when he was called by the second part of his name. His father was the only one who called him that regularly. Others would call him Tuffnut unless his father was around then they would refer to him just like his father would.

"Yeah dad?" The male twin said as he turned to look at his father. Ser. Tuffnut motioned his head over to the fireplace where two stools always sat. Normally the twins would sit in front of the fire when it was too cold or Ser. Tuffnut would cook their dinner over the fire.

"We need to have a talk." He said as he sat down in one of the stools while his son sat in the other. "I'm going to go on the hunt for the nest tomorrow. I need you to take care of your sister while I am gone. I don't care if you don't do well in training, but I want you to make sure Ruff is safe." He said and sighed deeply before continuing. "She's a lot like your mother, both of you are. You both need to watch out for each other." He said and he started to daze off at his words, but he quickly shook his head to push them away.

Tuffnut coughed before nodding at his father. "I will dad." He promised before letting out another sigh as he looked over to the fire. Tuffnut wasn't used to seeing his father like this. He wasn't really well known for being a strong man, but he was the rock of the family. He kept the twins grounded and if they went to far he would pull them back down.

Ser. Tuffnut looked back to his son. "And if I don't come back…" Tuffnut shifted in his seat at his father's words.

"W-we'll be fine dad." He said quickly. The last thing Tuffnut wanted was to hear those words from his father after hearing them from his sister all day. He smiled at his son just as the backdoor of the hut opened.

"I got the carrots!" Ruffnut called into the hut.

"Thanks Ruff! Just set them on the counter!" Ser. Tuffnut called back before getting up. He looked back down to Tuffnut. "Thank you Junior." He said and patted his son's shoulder before walking into the kitchen.

"Alright dad." Tuffnut watched his father leave for the kitchen so he could get started on dinner. This was how things had been since the twins' mom had died three years ago. She had died in another hunt three years ago and since then their father had become the center of the household. "This has to be okay." He muttered to himself. He could himself together for a few weeks with his father away for his sister, but if he didn't come back…

Tuffnut shook his head and set the chair back down on all its legs. He got up from his seat and huffed as he looked up stairs. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if his father didn't come back from the hunt. He couldn't take on the role of being head of the household.

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><p>It was late when Stoick finally returned to his hut after ensuring the ships were ready to leave tomorrow, and stopping by the Great Hall for a drink and a talk with Gobber and Spitelout. He went more to talk to his friend and brother about his worries rather than to drink them away. Drinking was always hard because it made him feel so weak after the loss of his wife.<p>

He walked up to Hicca's room to see how she was doing. He could see the outline of her body under her blanket and hear her soft snores, letting him know she was sleeping.

He sighed deeply before walking back down the stairs to his own room bellow. He removed his helmet and armor before lying down in his bed. Sleep did not come easy to the chief of Berk, there was too much on his mind.

What was he going to do about Hicca?

Was the village going to be alright?

What was he going to do about Hicca?

Did they have enough supplies for the trip?

What was he going to do about Hicca?

Would they finally find the nest?

What in the name of the Gods was he going to do about Hicca?

He sighed deeply before turning on his side to stare back at the side of his bed that had been empty for years. If he was sleepy enough some nights he could imagine vividly that his wife was beside him, resting with a smile as she snuggled closely to him. She was the only one who knew how much he loved to snuggle, and he would never admit to how much he missed it and his wife. "I wish you were still here Val." He said as he reached out to touch the pillow she slept on.

It had been almost ten years since Valka disappeared and he had barely moved on since the day she went missing. It was during a dragon attack back when dragon attacks weren't as frequent and they had several years of no dragon attacks, which was why everyone was in such a panic when it happened. Hicca was four at the time, and it was her first dragon attack. Valka took her into the forest, thinking that was the best place to keep her safe while Stoick worked to gain some kind of control during the attack. It was his first dragon attack as chief and the first time he failed to keep his wife safe.

He didn't know what happened, nobody did. The only person who actually knew what had happened was Hicca, who was saying a man riding a dragon had taken her mother. Nobody believed her story when she told them that a man had been riding a dragon, it was just too crazy to believe. Everyone decided she made up the story to deal with the stress of losing her mother right in front of her and Stoick had hoped that Hicca's story would change as she got older, but it never did.

The story stayed and the fights began to break out between them as Hicca got older. Her story never changed and her love for dragons grew. Stoick kept praying to the gods that this was just a phase and that soon she would be over it, but it was starting to seem like his prayers were going unanswered.

He wasn't sure how long he stared at the empty spot beside him, but eventually he fell into a dreamless sleep, the same way he always slept for the last ten years.

* * *

><p>Hicca huffed as she stood on the docks. There were dozens of Vikings loading the ships with supplies and weapons that they would need to ensure.<p>

She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be in the forest looking for the Night Fury. She huffed deeply again as she looked around as family said goodbye to their loved one who were leaving to hunt down the dragon.

She noticed Tuffnut and Ruffnut with their father, Ser. Tuffnut, standing at the end of the docks. The head of the Thorston household hugged his two children just like most of the parents leaving on the hunt were. Hicca looked away as a pain spread in her chest and her stomach started to hurt. This wasn't the first time she felt like this when she saw others who were clearly closer to their parents than she was.

"Hicca." She looked away from the ground and up at who was talking to her. It was her father. She glared at him before she looked back to the ground and down at her boots. Stoick sighed deeply as Hicca looked away from him. "I'll be back, probably." He said as he stared out at the ocean.

"And I'll be here, maybe…" Hicca said, wishing the chances of her getting away from Berk was much more likely to happen if she knew where she would go. She didn't know anyone else in the nearby tribes and the only person she knew was on a tribe too far away from Berk.

They didn't say anything to each other. They didn't even look at one and other. Stoick continued to stare out at the ocean while Hicca kept her eyes on her feet as the world around them kept moving.

Gobber looked over at the two and huffed before throwing a bag onto the ship before walking over to the father and daughter. He looked between the two before sighing deeply.

"Hicca would like to say that she will miss you very much and she wishes you'll find that Thor-forsaken dragons nest so you can stop taking your frustrations out on everyone, namely poor Gobber." He said looking at Stoick before looking back to Hicca as he finished. Hicca didn't look up from her feet or say anything to Gobber like how she would want her father to fail in order to save the dragons.

The blacksmith sighed knowing she wouldn't say anything. "Stoick would like you to know that he will be thinking of you the whole time, so train hard, don't burn the hut down, and he'll do his best not to get eaten by a dragon or sea serpent. But if he does, well…you know…that's that." He said trying to get his friend's feelings across to his daughter.

"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard." Stoick said sternly and coldly as he moved past them. He threw his bag onto the ship before jumping onto it. He looked back at Gobber and Hicca as she looked up from the ground. "I want her back in one piece Gobber." He said to the blacksmith, sternly and protectively as he tried to keep his worries from showing. He looked away and over at the other ships, ordering them to set sail.

Everyone remained on the docks as the ships sailed away. Gothi, the village elder and mute, waved her staff in the air, casting a prayer onto the ships. Once Gothi's finished and the ships sailed away too far for anyone to see them the docks began to empty. Gobber looked to Hicca as they began walking off the docks. "You better be at dragon training today." He told her before he walked away from her.

As her teacher walked away Hicca sighed knowing that she didn't have a chance of getting away, Gobber would just hunt her down and drag her to training.

"Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll kick me out after one day." She said to herself, hopeful that Gobber would just let her go after today.

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><p><strong>I hope that was all worth the wait and you all enjoyed seeing another side of the twins. And I hope you guys all like Ser. Tuffnut. I wasn't planning on his being this close to the twins, but when I started writing him it just seemed to fit more with the twins and given the consonances in their family.<br>**

**I'll try to get the next chapter up sooner but I can't make any promises with the holidays coming up this month. **

**Thank you all for your support, favorites, and follows. They've helped me a lot this month. **


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